Latch-on cover for boxes



March 24,1942. `B WILSON 2,277,379

LATCH-'ON COVER FOR BOXES Filed April 30', 1941 INVENTOR BARKL5YB-M//LSON Patented Mar. 24, 1942 UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a latch-on cover for an egg crate or any similar shipping container where it is deemed undesirable to destroy a nailed on cover nearly every time the crate is opened.

It is an object of the present invention to produce a box or crate with a cover therefor that latches on, in such manner that accidental unlatching in handling is eliminated to a great degree, if not entirely.

It is a further object to construct a latch for such a cover that has a mode of operation requiring a purposeful manual action to unlatch it and yet latches and unlatches easily. The mode of use will be further informative of its improved structure as will be seen from the following speciiication.

A drawing showing a preferred form of the invention, accompanies and forms a part hereof, in which- Figure I is an end view of the upper part of a crate supplied with a cover and my improved latch;

Fig. II is a side View of the left hand end of Fig. I, showing the latch in engagement holding the cover in place and also indicating in dotted outline how it is engaged;

Fig. III is a section taken on the line III-III, Fig. I; and

Fig. IV is a side View of a crate at reduced scale, showing latches on both ends.

In the drawing, l is the body of a crate and 2 is a cover therefor, the cover being slightly narrower than the outside width of the body but still wide enough to completely cover the open top. The purpose of this construction will be apparent.

The body is supplied with end cleats 3, flush with its to-p line as is customary, and is otherwise not different from the standard body used in very great numbers. Only the cover with its built in latch is dierent and is intended to iit any body, whether or not it was intended beforehand to use this type of cover and latch.

Save for being slightly narrower than the box itself, the cover is not different from other covers either and may be made of one, two or three pieces. Hingedly mounted on the inside (or lower side) near each end, is a at reach f the spring bail member I0. The hinge is indicated by the numeral II and may be in two or more parts as shown. Ordinarily, it will be merely short pieces of sheet metal bent over on itself to hingedly hold the reach of the spring bail I0.

The spring bail I0 is bent at substantially right angles'at both ends as at ma, see Fig. II, so that it lies closely alongside the boundary of the cover at that point; and the cover being somewhat narrower than the body I, as heretofore noted, the combined width of the cover and the short reaches of wire bail alongside, are still no wider than the body, hence when sliding one into a truck, or otherwise handling it in loading and unloading, neither another crate nor any other thing such as a Wall or projection can catch on that part of the bail, tending to disengage it.

'The short length of the bail just described is of such length that it reaches to about the center of the end 0f the cleat 3, as plainly shown in Fig. II; the placement being important as will appear. The short reach lila is again bent to form the downwardly extending portion |4017 which terminates in the loop Ic.

It will be seen from Figs. I and II that the Whole structure of the wire I0 may be properly called an offset stirrup-like bail with opposite, spring-loop lower corners.

So far, the shape of the spring wire, the base number being I0, has been described only around one upper corner of the crate and lid and as shown in the drawing, the other corner will be identically formed and the two sides joined from the loops Ic by a horizontal reach lod. Ends of the wire I0 may be brought into abutting relationship anywhere in the portion that engages the hinges; or it may be spot-welded at any point if desired.

The horizontal reach Id lies within a groove IZa of the lock I2, and the lock I2 is recessed on both ends at I2C in such manner that the loops Ic or adjacent parts of the bent wire III are accommodated within both ends of the lock I2, while the horizontal reach of the wire lild, is in effect in apposition, the lock I2 beingheld between two parts of the wire I0. This is a very important detail of construction without which my new latch-on cover would lose the most of its merit. The function has been purposefully brought out in Fig. II.

Note that the groove I2a is spaced from the lower boundary of the lock I2, the latter being rounded. Note further the inherent mode of locking. The lock and wire is shown in dotted outline above the corner in this ligure. To lock, it is swung down to the full line position, the lock I2 for an instant occupying the position shown dotted, then downward pressure exerted as indicated by the arrows in Fig. I will cause the wire to springly yield and the lock to slide readily under the cleat 3 as shown in all figures. Note also the important fact that to release the lock it must be swung outward from the top, again to the position shown dotted in Fig. II, and it cannot be swung outward from the bottom without applying enough force to destroy the shape of the spring wire l and particularly the downwardly extending portion IUb. This means that no catching on an obstruction can cause the lock to open unless the handler pulls hard enough to bend both ends of the wire I0 which will be strong enough to give him ample notice of something wrong. Note also that the whole latching arrangement is in the clear at the ends of the crate, hence sliding one crate alongside another means sliding flat surfaces together and there are no projections more than would be present with a nailed on cover.

To release the lock I2, a nger lever I5 is provided and it is also seen that the construction adopted lends itself to complete protection of this element against accidental hooking onto a projection.

The locks I2 will be preferably made to medium hardwood and can be formed very rapidly by a Shaper and a rabbeting tool, while wire forming methods are so Well developed that the spring bail can be made with great rapidity, resulting in a low cost effective latch.

Having disclosed my invention in the manner required by statute, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Latching means to engage a cover with a box provided with a cleat across its top end, consisting of a lock plate member adapted to lie flat across the end of the box with its upper edge in close contact with the underside of the cleat, and a spring bail member of stirrup-like form with two parallel reaches and two offset ends,

one reach of said bail hingedly attached to the under side of the cover, the other reach hingedly attached to the outside of the lock plate near its lower edge, and intermediate portions of the offset ends of the bail so formed that they normally lie inside of the lock plate near its ends.

2. A cover, spring bail and lock assembly adapted to lockingly engage the cover on an open top box provided with a cleat at its top across the end, comprising a stirrup-like offset spring bail member hingedly mounted on the underside of the cover near one end and so formed and mounted that the oifset lies alongside the sides of the cover and over the end of the box with which it is engaged, a lock member hingedly mounted on the bottom reach of said stirruplike bail, to lie between the bail and the box in resilient engagement beneath the end cleat, with a portion of the bail so formed that it normally lies between the lock member and the box, to prevent the said lock member from being swung outwardly from the bottom side thereof to disengage the lock member from the cleat.

3. A latch for latching a cover on a box having a cleat across the end at the top, comprising a stirrup-like spring bail formed with two parallel reaches, one reach hingedly attached to the under side of the cover near its end and end portions of the bail so formed that the other reach normally lies across the end of the box below the cleat, and a lock member for lockingly engaging the cleat by being sprung thereunder from the top, inwardly, the said lock member hingedly attached to the last named reach of the bail in such manner that the edge thereof opposite the locking edge lies between the reach on one side and the end portions of the bail on the other side.

BARKLEY B. WILSON. 

